Networked multiplayer games are known by a variety of different acronyms from the earliest MUDs (multi-user domains or dungeons), to the current variety of MMOGs (massively multiplayer online games), the most popular genres of which include MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game), MMORTS (massively multiplayer online real time strategy) and MMOFPS (massively multiplayer online first-person shooter).
These games, which are all networked multiplayer games, may be referred to herein for convenience as MMOGs, without any intended or implied limitation as to the number of players or the objectives, characteristics or nature of any such game, other than the fact that it is played over a network and involves multiple players.
A typical MMOG will employ the Internet as its network and will support several hundred or several thousand players. These players will frequently interact with one another and with the game environment through the medium of characters (also called avatars) who “live” within the game environment. Far from being a small niche market, the total number of current subscriptions to MMOGs as of July 2006 was thought to be approximately 15 million. Certain games have internal economies which generate substantial activity, and because the items and currency generated in-game can be sold for hard cash, the more popular games have sufficient economic activity to enable dedicated players to earn a living solely through the economic activity they generate in-game.
With the increasing value of virtual economies, issues arise with regard to taxation, legal rights, and the interaction between the virtual and real economies. It is understandably difficult for companies and interested individuals to participate in the economic activity occurring within virtual economies, although certain companies have begun to sponsor advertisements in social MMOGs such as “Second Life”, and indeed the Reuters news agency has a full time reporter in the Second Life game world.
As this trend increases, companies which have traditionally been confined to the real world will face increasing challenges in trying to successfully integrate virtual world activity with their day-to-day operations. The present invention is directed to providing methods and systems to assist in this process.